Why is the local authority asking me to do the electoral roll for my HMO?

At this time of year local authority electoral registration officers are often focused on an overhaul of the electoral roll. This is part of an annual canvas to confirm the roll is up to date and must be reported to central government.

However, in some types of property things are a little different this year. This is due to changes made to parts of the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 by a part of the (equally snappily named) Representation of the People (Annual Canvass) (Amendment) Regulations 2019.

This change adds a new regulation 32ZBF into the 2001 regulations that specifically deals with multiply occupied properties such as care homes, hostels, student accommodation, and HMOs. This regulation permits an electoral registration officer believes that using an alternative method, which is being called “route 3” by the Electoral Commission, will provide better information for the electoral roll. In those cases, the registration officer can approach the “responsible person” to ask them to complete the electoral roll registration for the property. The responsible person is anyone that the registration officer thinks is likely to have the necessary information. For an HMO this usually means the landlord.

Now this is entirely voluntary. The regulations are clear that if the registration officer does not get a response they must default to the more standard methods and write to of visit the property. So, a landlord of an HMO is under no obligation whatsoever to do anything in response to this sort of communication.

This is where the problem is occurring. Some registration officers are being a little over enthusiastic and sending letters to landlords which suggest that they are liable if they do not provide the information. In most cases these seem to be badly worded letters which contain a warning about giving false information, but which give the distinct impression that you have to reply to their letters. In some other cases the letters are more explicit still and say that landlords must give this information.

To be clear while it would undoubtedly be helpful for landlords to fill in electoral roll returns for HMOs they are not obliged to do so and cannot be prosecuted or fined for not doing so.